You can't always get what you want.

I had fun swinging by Artur's best friend Tom's party, but wish I'd been with Sara Johnson on her birthday. I'm also really sad about the crazy tornados in Tuscaloosa and the rest of the South, and wonder if there's anywhere left to live sans natural disaster.

Anxiety

I'm still nervous about my oral exam on Monday. When you're anxious about one thing, everything else seems to have the potential to be disastrous.

What a boring blog....

A very nice lesbian named Cindy from the LA Department of Water and Power came to check my breakers in an attempt to stop my electricity bill from going haywire constantly. Also--while I'm happy that I wrote a poem after an Andy Warhol painting--Fun Thursdays are simply less fun without Artur's sister Joanna around.

Of the week? I'd say of the year....

The Missouri Review blog has posted a piece of mine as Poem of the Week. It's here.

Obsession

I continue to be obsessed with following the progress and sometimes deaths of NYC shelter dogs. Also, I continue to be obsessed with not studying enough.

Countdown

One week to go before my oral qualifying exam, and I should be studying, but instead I'm hanging out with all the Ettman siblings, complaining about rampant cell phone use and discussing cuts of brisket. Oh well.

PassEaster

It is Easter at Artur's parents' house, and I cooked everyone pork chops. Sadly, the side of my mouth is still burned from making chocolate- and toffee-covered matzoh with sea salt for Josh Rivkin's Passover seder the other day.

Gathering

A large group of friends and I celebrated my birthday with dinner at C & O Trattoria, where the waiters stop the whole restaurant to toast the patrons and sing "That's Amore" every hour, and where there was apparently some kind of armed conflict outside. Later, at "Saints and Sinners," there were more friends and tequila cocktails, and my reserved party space was almost (but hell no, not) stolen by another girl named Jessica who insisted the space was saved for her birthday party.

Animal

The Scandinavian-themed amusement park was closed, but my very generous love and I did get to eat a fancy dinner at a restaurant called Animal. The joint's name is appropriate because 1) there's a lot of meat on the menu, 2) we were starving and ate like ravenous non-humans and 3) they must expect, like animals, that the patrons aren't too particular about their food, since half the items we ordered were disappointing.

Birthday

On my surprise birthday camping trip in Joshua Tree, Artur insisted that "trails are just a suggestion." Here's my suggestion: one's birthday is not a good day to die while hiking up a small mountain / large hill.